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Following the tragedy of the awful attack at Bondi, Australia is confronting multiple pressing reckonings. We are seeing a long-overdue national focus on antisemitism, an persistent concern about national security, and questions about the way such an tragedy could happen. However, as viewed of a health professional and Australian Jew, the paramount discussion we are now having centers on firearms.

A Decade of Warnings and a Successful Response

Public health specialists have been sounding alarms about firearms for a minimum of a decade. In the wake of the Port Arthur tragedy, Australians came together and enacted a suite of reforms to curb gun violence nationwide. And it worked. Prior to 1996, the nation experienced roughly one large-scale firearm incident per year. In the decades since, there have been vanishingly few major events, with none reaching the death toll of the shootings in the 1980s and 1990s.

The Bondi Attack and the Role of Existing Laws

Amidst the Bondi tragedy, the nation's gun laws were partially effective. It has been suggested the alleged attackers possessed with manually-operated long guns and a straight-pull shotgun. These firearms can only fire a single bullet at a time, requiring a physical action to ready the subsequent shot. Although these guns can be fired quite quickly with lethal results, they remain significantly less rapid and less efficient than the high-capacity, semi-automatic rifles frequently used in international mass shootings. The casualty count at Bondi would've been far higher if more advanced firearms had been accessible.

Stopping a future Bondi demands unity across all states. Regrettably, there are already cracks in the facade.

A System Showing Weakness

However, the terrible consequences of the incident reveals that existing gun laws are failing. Crafted in the late 1990s with the noblest aims, decades have worn away their effectiveness. Concerningly, there are now a greater number of guns in Australia than prior to the Port Arthur massacre, with some individuals in cities reportedly holding arsenals numbering in the hundreds.

We have been complacent and it has cost us terribly.

The Road Forward: Announced Reforms

In the time after the Bondi tragedy, there have been numerous announcements regarding new firearm legislation. The state of NSW in particular will shortly enact a package of reforms to reduce the public danger from firearms. The federal government has announced a fresh gun buyback, and there is hope for a national firearms registry, despite the inherent challenges of coordinating state and federal jurisdictions.

All of this are only possible provided that the nation acts in unison. As stated, when it comes to firearm laws, the country is only as strong as its least stringent jurisdiction. This is the reality of the Australian system – regulations in one state are easily circumvented if they can be avoided with a journey across a border.

Addressing Common Arguments

There is the predictable response that "firearms are not the killers, people kill people". This is true in the identical way that aircraft do not fly passengers, pilots do. Yes, aircraft require operators, but it would be quite challenging for a captain to move 500 people overseas without the plane. The mass slaughter seen at Bondi would be all but impossible without guns, and would have been far less damaging if the accused individuals had been denied access to the weapons they possessed.

Weighing Need and Security

There are valid reasons for some Australians to own guns. Farm work or controlling vermin in many places is extremely difficult without them. A total ban of guns from the country is impractical, as in certain contexts they are indispensable.

The achievable goal – the imperative action – is to guarantee that firearm legislation are updated to accurately reflect the world we live in today. Australia's legislation have historically been the envy of the world, but the passage of years has taken a toll and the nation is no longer as safe as it previously was. It is critical to take the lessons of Bondi seriously, and make certain that future generations are as protected as past generations have been.

A friend remarked after the Bondi attack, "things like this just don't happen here". This is true, but solely due to the fact that the country has made concerted efforts to keep itself safe. However horrific as the incident was, there is an aspiration that it can serve as the last one the nation experiences.